Rail Design Linking Mexico, Texas Unveiled
MARFA, Texas — The design for a new rail line linking Chihuahua, Mexico, and borderland Texas was unveiled Thursday. The link will allow goods from two major Mexican ports to move directly into the central part of the United States without having to move through El Paso or San Diego.
The Mexican Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan and Los Mochis in Sinaloa receive U.S-bound goods from Asia every day. Rail is the most cost-effective way to move the goods into the U.S. market. But there are only a few rail options for goods destined for the American heartland. And those goods typically clog up rail connections at points of entry in El Paso and San Diego.
But now, a new rail bridge linking the border towns of Ojinaga, Chihuahua, and Presidio, Texas is expected to begin construction next year.
Presidio schools Superintendent Dennis McIntyre said the plan will be tweaked, but the fact that agencies in two countries have finally agreed on a design is a good sign.
"So that means it moves into a much more viable stance and we are looking at beginning construction on that bridge in the second quarter of 2015," McIntyre said.
Economists suggest a new bridge on the border will translate into less expensive consumer goods imported from Asia.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto ordered his government to expand borderland infrastructure in November, saying Mexico needs a new rail bridge here to move its own goods into the U.S. market. Texas has good rail connections with the Midwestern states.
"They've got a presidential order now from Mexico City saying 'we are ready, we're moving. Hope to meet you in the middle,'" said Judge Paul Hunt, the top elected official in Presidio.
A report also released Thursday claims a new bridge would immediately create 54 new jobs, with the hope that number would rise once trains start rolling.
